Hello there geographers and welcome to the first
unit summary video for AP Human Geography in this video we will be reviewing all of the major
Concepts that you need to know from unit 1 of AP Human Geography now before we get started I
need you to click the link in the description of this video to get the study guide that goes along
with the video the study guide can be found in my Ultimate Review Packet it goes along with this
video and will make sure that you remember all of the major concepts in this unit. When you get
the study guide don't forget to check out the rest of the packet as well the packet has unit review
videos for each unit practice quizzes study guides answer keys full practice AP exams FRQ resources
important vocab lists exclusive videos and other resources to help you get not only an A in your
class but a five on the national exam. So now that you have your study guide out and you are ready
to go let's review unit one. Now the first part of this unit is all about maps and right away we need
to remember that whenever we are looking at a map we are looking at a distorted image of the globe.
Every map projection has distortion in either the direction shape area or distance. This happens
because you can't take a three-dimensional object such as a globe and perfectly project it onto a
two-dimensional surface. There are hundreds and hundreds of different map projections and each
of them have different uses. But for AP Human Geography you only have to be familiar with a
few. The Mercator map projection is a conformal projection and is excellent at showing accurate
direction, which is one of the reasons why it was used for naval expedition. But this projection has
significant distortion in the size and location of land Maps which we can clearly see when looking
at Greenland and Africa the map gives the illusion that Greenland is larger than Africa when in
reality Africa is more than 14 times larger than Greenland the good homo scene projection is an
equal area pseudo-cylindrical projection it does a great job at showing the true size and shape of
land masses but has Distortion in distances near the edges of the map it is not helpful for
direction since it is is an interrupted man remember interrupted Maps try to remove Distortion
by removing parts of the globe while uninterrupted Maps do not remove any parts of the globe which
may cause more Distortion in some areas of the map the Robinson projection has more Distortion
near the poles which helps preserve the size and shape of land map but in its effort to minimize
Distortion it ends up spreading the Distortion out across the entire map for all areas next is
the gall Peters projection which is one of the more accurate map projections at showing the
true size of the earth's land mass but at the same time this projection does have significant
Distortion with the shape of land masses and also Direction remember the fundamental problem
that every map has is Distortion moving on from map projections to types of maps we can see their
two broad categories reference maps and thematic Maps reference maps are informational Maps these
Maps show boundaries the toponym and geographic features of a play reference maps are often used
for Direct actions to display property lines political boundaries elevation changes public
transportation routes or to show key features of a place one type of reference map you'll want
to be familiar with is a topographic map these Maps use contour lines to display the terrain
and elevation changes in an area the closer the lines are together the steeper the train is the
more space there is between the lines the less elevation is changing now before we move on to
thematic Maps I want to quickly review absolute and relative distance and also Direction absolute
direction is the exact Direction you are heading for example if you are traveling south the compass
would be at 180 degrees while relative Direction depends on the surrounding area for example here
you can see that the yellow circle is north of the blue circle notice the direction depends on
the location of the other circle now absolute distance is the exact distance between two places
it's normally measured in miles or kilometers and relative distance is the approximate measurement
between two places for example if you want to drive from Minneapolis to Orlando it would take
about 23 hours next we have thematic Maps which display spatial patterns of places and use
quantitative data to display specific topics throughout AP Human Geography you will see a
variety of different thematic maps chloropluff maps display data by using different colors or
different shades of color with each color or shade of a color showing a different quantity of
the data set dot density Maps show data by placing points on a map where the data is occurring this
allows the reader to see the spatial distribution of data but can be confusing if the data is
clustered together remember when we are using spatial analysis we will come across information
that is clustered together for example notice on the screen right now these circles have little
space between them the circles here are packed together but if we spread the circles out over a
geographic area we can see that now the circles are dispersed you will hear these terms come up
throughout the entire year so make sure you are familiar with them for example when looking at
this dot density map of the United States we can see that people are more clustered together
in the east coast and are more dispersed in areas such as the Dakotas or States like Wyoming
Montana or Nebraska going on to our next thematic map we have a graduated symbol map which uses
shapes items or symbols to show the location and the amount of data these Maps can be very
visual but sometimes can be confusing due to the overlapping information isoline Maps use lines
to connect different areas that have similar or equal amounts of data a common example of this
would be a weather map that shows areas with similar temperature then there is a cartograph
map which shows data in a dynamic way with the greatest value represented by the largest area for
example we can see in this cartogram that China and India have larger populations than Canada and
Bahrain lastly there are flowline maps which are great at showing the movement of different Goods
people animals services or ideas between different places now while being able to identify these
Maps is one thing it's more important that you understand how to read so once you're done with
this video go back to my ultimate review packet and take the map quiz once you finish the quiz
you can also check out my video breaking down each question we've been talking about maps and
looking at different ways they can be used but we need to also go over Geographic data how it
is collected and also how it is categorized one of the ways in which geographers can collect data
is through remote sensing which is a process of collecting information about the world from
satellites that are orbiting the Earth this information can help us better understand
changes that occur in different places over time and can be used in geographic information
systems to create thematic Maps which help us better understand spatial patterns remember a GIS
is a computer system that can collect analyze and display Geographic data it creates layered Maps
which gives geographers insight into the spatial associations and patterns of a place satellites
are also helpful at providing an absolute location through the global positioning system or GPS for
sure today people use GPS to help navigate between different places or to find specific spots on the
Earth's surface these three different Technologies are all known as geospatial Technologies and they
allow different businesses people governments and also organizations to locate places and visualize
Geographic data but those are not the only ways in which geographers collect data there are also
field observations which are done by having people visit a place in the real world and record their
first-hand observation which is great at getting accurate data but can also be costly and sometimes
hard to get another in person or sometimes digital approach to Gathering data is through personal
interviews here geographers can learn about a place and collect individuals unique perspectives
by asking different questions to gain insight into an area media reports can also be used to better
understand what people in an area are experiencing and what is happening to that area newspapers
online line articles or local news stations all give different insights into a place or data can
be collected by looking at government documents the laws that are put in place in an area show
cultural values and priority they also provide insight into the different systems that govern a
place which can help geographers better understand what happened at a place what is happening now
and what might happen in the future then there are travel narratives which unlike government
documents or media reports show a more personal perspective here geographers can gain insight
into individuals experiences and observations of places while they were visiting or living in the
area lastly we can see data be acquired through landscape analysis and photo analysis this helps
geographers better understand changes to an area and can show the impact humans may have had on
the environment this is done by studying images captured by geospatial technology looking at
photographs or observing video recordings of a play your geographers can look at Wildlife
vegetation the geography and other physical elements of a place photo analysis is a skill you
will definitely want to be familiar with for both your class and for the national exam now before
we go on to talk about different types of data I want to make sure you're comfortable with doing
photo analysis pause this video and complete the table in your study guide once you're done with
the video you'll be able to go and check the answer key in the ultimate review packet to make
sure that you're understanding these contents all right so when we look at data we can see there
are two main categories of data qualitative data and quantitative data qualitative data is
information that is often in word form and is up for interpretation debate and discussion this data
is subjective and will differ depending on who has collecting it and how it is being collected
this type of data is often collected through observations and interviews an example of this
data would be the approval rating of your school's lunch food notice here that the information will
differ every time you conduct your survey well on the other hand quantitative data is often
in number form and is not up for debate this information is concrete and is objective not
subjective this information may be collected by a country's census which is an official count of a
population which includes a variety of demographic data such as age education level housing status
sex and more an example of this data would be the demographic breakdown of India where we could look
at the population pyramid to better understand how many people are in each age called if you do
need more help with practicing qualitative and quantitative data you can also find exclusive
videos and resources in the ultimate review packet to help you practice these Concepts Okay so
we've covered now how to collect Geographic data but now we need to talk about what we can use that
Geographic data for to start we have to remember that when we change our scale we gain different
insight into Geographic data which makes sense if I'm looking at a local scale I'm not seeing
much of the Earth's surface but I'm able to see lots of details of an area this would be great
for understanding exactly where data points are occurring but if I change my scale to a national
scale I lose some of the finer details however I am now able to see different spatial relationships
occurring within a country's boundary lastly if we use a small scale map and look at a global scale
we are able to see even more patterns but also end up relying more on generalization governments
use Geographic data to better understand their constituents needs and to better understand how
to plan for the future we look at the local level we can see City governments use quantitative and
qualitative data to make decisions about zoning to plan for the future growth of their settlement to
do this they will look at data such as population changes to understand the needs of their residents
for example if the population is very young they will need to get funding for a new school or if
the population is older they will invest more in health care services if we change our scale to
a regional scale we can see Regional governments such as state governments in the United States
that will use data to allocate State funds for infrastructure projects social services and pass
laws for the region to reflect the needs and wants of the people nationally we can see Federal
governments who use data to decide what federal laws and programs should be created and kept in
place oftentimes National governments will look at what Regional governments have done to see if it
would work on a national scale on a global scale we can look at supernational organizations such
as the United Nations which looks at the current state of the world these organizations look
at geospatial data to help counter Roar famine epidemics and conflicts between different nations
all to help make the world a better place and it isn't just governments that use data businesses do
as well businesses use geospatial data to not only understand the needs and wants of their customers
but also their operation on a local scale businesses may use information that is organized
by census tracts to better understand the median income of an area this will allow them to open
stores in neighborhoods where their customers are located on a regional scale businesses can
compare different store sales to look for areas that are more favorable for the business such as
regions that have a lower tax rate for businesses or a higher percentage of of workers with the
skills that are desirable nationally businesses look to see how different stores and offices are
performing around the country to better identify good company policy businesses will also look
for trends that are occurring nationally which could be used to increase productivity and sales
of regional branches if we change our scale to the global scale we can see that businesses will
look for new sources of resources workers ideas and markets to expand their business too they will
use Geographic data to understand changes in the global market to look for developing economy for
either the production of goods or possibly new markets to sell their goods lastly individuals
use Geographic data in their lives as well on a local scale we can see people use geospatial data
to help get them from place a to place B by using their GPS individuals looking to move into a new
house might use thematic maps to look at crime rates in a neighborhood commute times or check to
see what services exist in an area on a regional scale we can see individuals look at different
opportunities in an area and compare them to the surrounding region for example in the United
States the 50 states often have similar laws and systems in place but each state does differ in
their legislative policies which allows people to compare the performance of each state to
see which policies work the best on a national scale individuals will look at how their country
performs economically and socially when trying to decide which individuals to vote for oftentimes
individuals look at different data and information to inform themselves on the type of leadership
they want for their country lastly we could look at the global scale where individuals look at
geospatial data to better understand the world in which they live compare different countries and
to gain insight into the different Global Systems that impact them notice how each time we change
our scale we gain different levels of insight into the data and the more that we start to zoom out
the more General the data become now we've been talking for a while now about different Geographic
data and how it can show different spatial patterns but let's dive deeper into some some of
these spatial Concepts we've been talking about to start you want to make sure that you remember the
difference between absolute and relative location and notice that I said location not direction
or distance we already talked about those terms earlier in this video absolute location is an
exact location on the Earth's surface it uses longitude and latitude think about your phone
and GPS the name of a location may change over time but those coordinates will always remain the
same relative location on the other hand is the relation a place has to the surrounding area for
example if I was to describe my location using the different buildings around me or geographic
features of the area it's not exact like absolute location but it can still help you with figuring
out a person's location so when talking about a place we're talking about its physical and human
characteristics physical characteristics are things like rivers mountains vegetation or climate
of an area whereas the human characteristics would be things such as the languages spoken in an
area the religions that are practiced the amount of people living in a place the culture that are
present in the area or other General demographic data both physical and human characteristics
provide a location a sense of place this is an emotional response that helps form a person's
perception of a play the more unique a place is or the more memories you have of a place the
stronger the sense of place now sometimes certain locations do not invoke any strong feelings
from people and they lack the unique features that help the location stand out this could cause
the location to have placelessness which is when a play seems to lack in identity one of the ways
we can gain insight into a place is by observing the spatial associations that exist within a
place when looking at a place geographers will look at the spatial distribution of the plate
which consists of density concentration and any patterns that may be present concentration
looks at how things are spread out objects may be clustered together or dispersed density looks
at the amount of objects or people in an area for example urban areas are often more densely
populated since more people live there compared to rural areas lastly pattern is the arrangement
of things in an area such as if objects are in a grid formation or a linear pattern when we observe
different spatial distributions of a place we can gain a better understanding of the flow the use
the purpose and culture of that place for example look around your classroom the next time you are
in it how are the desks arranged are they spaced out facing the front of the room or are they
clustered together in pots each of these different Arrangements tells you something about how the
classroom will be used if the desks are all in a line facing the front of the room with space
between the desks odds are you'll be listening to the teacher more and talking with your peers a
lot but if your deaths are clustered together you will probably be talking with your peers working
on group projects or having more interactions with other students so we can see that we can learn
a lot about a place just from observing it but in order to truly understand a place we also need
to understand its connections with other places the world today is more connected than ever
before thanks to advancements in technology apology and communication it's easier than ever
to travel communicate trade and interact with places and people all over the world all of these
connections make the world feel that much smaller this phenomenon is known as time space compression
traditionally places and people were impacted more by distance Decay which is a geographic concept
that looks at How likely a person or place is to interact with another person or play the farther
the people or places are apart the less likely they are to interact this is why you're more
likely to hang out with people that attend your school instead of a school on the other side
of town or why you are more likely to shop at stores near you instead of in another city but
thanks to the advancements in technology the impact of distance Decay has decreased as it's
become easier than ever to interact with other places and people around the world Okay so we've
been talking about how places interact with other places but now we need to talk about how places
interact with the environment when looking at human environment interaction we can see that
society and impacts the environment and the environment in turn impacts Society the idea
of environmental determinism looked at this relationship between the environment and society
and while it is no longer as widely accepted it still provides us insight into the role of the
environment and Society determinism believes that the environment dictates the success of a society
certain environments allow for a society to thrive and succeed while other environments restrict
a society over time people started to criticize environmental determinism for promoting European
imperialism and for discounting the role of humans and their ability to adapt to adversity the day
many people believe in environmental possibilism which is the idea that the environment puts a
limits on a society but people have the ability to adjust the physical environment and create their
own success remember environmental determinism believes that the environment determines the
culture and possibilism believes that the environment and culture both influence each other
one of the ways in which we can see society today change their local environment is by repurposing
their land for specific purposes this is known as land land that is used for agricultural use
is utilized for the production of different agricultural products both for human consumption
and animal consumption land used for industrial land consists of factories and Manufacturing
facilities that produce different products for society land designated for commercial use is for
businesses and stores to sell their final goods and services then there is residential land use
which is a land that is designated for people to live on and build homes recreational land use is
land that's been set aside for people in society to relax and unwind such as land dedicated
to football stadiums Parks or campsites and lastly there is transportational land use which
is the land that is designated for roads railroads airports ports or public transportation such
as Subway this is what allows people and goods to get around a society by understanding the
society's land use patterns we gain insight into what industries they prioritize what cultural
values they have and how Society designates their land to meet the different wants and needs of
their people now when societies seek to meet their wants and needs they will consume natural
resources which are resources that are produced in nature natural resources consist of renewable
resources such as crops and trees these resources can be used multiple times without running out
then there is non-renewable resources such as oil and natural gas once the resources used it's
gone it's important that societies around the world create sustainable policies to help their
society become more sustainable when societies are sustainable they ensure that they use the Earth's
natural resources in a manner that allows them to meet their wants and needs without compromising
future Generations from doing the same Okay so we've talked about the environment places
spatial associations and data but now we need to talk about scale and scale of analysis remember
scale is the distance on a map in relation to the corresponding distance on the Earth's surface
there is a global scale national scale Regional scale and local scale and if we want to get even
more detailed with our scale we can also look at categories such as the sub-national scale or
sub-state scale which is below the national scale this would include looking at a map of a city
county region or even a census tract which is one of the smallest classifications of a geographic
area now in talking about scales of analysis we will still use global national regional and local
scale but with scales of analysis we're trying to understand how the information and data is being
organized and presented a global scale of analysis does not use country's boundaries to present
the information instead it shows Global pattern the information here is not connected to any one
country making this map here a global scale map and a global scale of analysis a national scale
of analysis has the data and information organized by the country here we can see we have a global
scale map but notice how the data is organized by each country since the data is connected to
specific countries it makes us a national scale of analysis or Regional scale of analysis can
be displayed in a variety of different ways but here we can see that we have a national scale map
however the information is being organized into different Federal Reserve Districts making this
a regional scale of analysis lastly here we can see we have a local scale of analysis notice how
the information that is being presented in this map is organized by the different counties in the
United States one thing you'll want to notice is that as we change our scale from a global scale to
a local scale you're able to get more details in the information small scale Maps such as this one
use more generalizations to present the data since the maps are more zoomed out while large-scale
Maps such as this one have more details and use less generalization since the maps are zoomed
in oftentimes students get confused with small and large-scale Maps remember small scale maps
are zoomed out and large-scale maps are zoomed in whenever we change our scale we can observe
different spatial associations patterns and gain insight into different Geographic areas scale and
scale of analysis can be confusing for students so what I want you to do now is complete the table
in your study guide if you need help completing the table you can also check out my exclusive
videos and practice problems in the ultimate review packet to help you make sure that you're
understanding everything all right now moving on from scale of analysis to Regional analysis we
can see that we have three main different types of regions remember a region is a geographic
area that is defined by one or more unique characteristics or certain patterns of activity
there are formal regions also known as uniform regions these are Geographic areas that have
common attributes and are traditionally defined by economic political social or environmental
characteristics for example political boundaries in Latin America create formal regions that are
State or the Rocky Mountains create a formal physical region in the United States functional
regions also known as nodal regions are Geographic areas that are organized around a node or Center
Point oftentimes the node or Center Point is based around a specific economic activity travel or
communication airports radio stations power plants or subway stations all create functional
regions lastly there are perceptual regions also known as vernacular regions these are Geographic
areas that are linked together due to people's opinions attitudes feelings or beliefs on the
region these regions exist in people's minds and do not have a perfect definition these regions
will differ depending on who you talk to for example the Middle East is a perceptual region
depending on who you talk to each person has a different idea of what countries are part of the
Middle East one general rule of thumb to remember is that if a region is based on the cardinal
directions it is most likely a perceptual region since when using cardinal directions we
are looking at relative location and direction over time we see regions change overlap and become
contested this is especially true if we change our scale of our information and there you have it
geographers we are done with unit one now don't forget to check your answers to the study guide
in the answer key in my ultimate review pack and also take the unit one practice quiz to make sure
you're ready for your unit one test remember if you found value in this video and you want to see
more human geography content then also make sure to subscribe and join me for unit 2. as always
I'm Mr. Sinn and I will see you next time online